3 comments:

Yeah, I guess it did:http://www.today.com/home/when-roomba-met-dog-poop-man-s-poopocalypse-goes-viral-t101883

Tesla, meet Roomba. But, but. . .

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/01/28/ai_the_real_deal/-----------------AI no longer needs to fake it. Just don't try talking to your robotsMankind's creations are almost better than the real thing28 Jan 2016Alistair Dabbs

[A] robovac is an elementary example of AI and mechanics putinto practice. Artificial intelligence does not mean an abilityto speak and interact with humans but simply to be automatedin an intelligent way. A robovac wakes itself up, recognisesthe difference between carpet and solid flooring, navigatesthe furniture and stores itself for recharging when it’s finished.The Dyson 360 Eye even plans out its own work strategy,knows its whereabouts in the room, and keeps track of thebits of floor still remaining to be cleaned. . .====

Well, take heart. As Canadian marine biologist and SF authorPeter Watts once said (viahttp://amormundi.blogspot.com/2009/11/futurology-is-quintessential-and.html ):

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/15/roomba-robot-vacuum-poopocalypse-facebook-post--------------Roomba creator responds to reports of ‘poopocalypse’: ‘We see this a lot’Olivia Solon15 August 2016

. . .

It turns out that this isn’t an isolated incident.

It’s happened to neuroscientist Becca (she didn’t want herfull name published) between five and 10 times over the past two years.

She and her husband bought the Roomba to tackle the hair shedby their four cats Aretha, Bert, Merry and Pippin. “It doesan amazing job,” she said.

That is, until there’s a stray cat turd. Sometimes thishappens when one of the cats simply misses the litter box,while at other times it’s down to the cat having “a littledangling one” that falls off somewhere in the apartment.

“It’s awful. The poop gets stuck in these tiny treads inthe wheels, gets sucked inside and in all the brushes,”Becca explained. “That’s on top of the poop smeared allover the house.”. . .

“Quite honestly, we see this a lot,” said a spokesman fromiRobot, the company that makes the Roomba.

“We generally tell people to try not to schedule your vacuumif you know you have dogs that may create such a mess. Withanimals anything can happen.”

Are there any plans to introduce any poop detection technologyto the product? “Our engineers are always trying to figure outways to help people with their problems, and we’ve known this isan issue people deal with.”

He suggests that it might be possible to introduce aspecific sensor or feces-specific image recognition.====

Not face(s) recognition, feces recognition.

The existential threat folks missed this one. The realthreat wasn't grey goo, it was brown goo.